Letter To The Editor: On April 15 – Demand a future

Our generation of college graduates is set to be the most in debt in U.S. history. The average current graduate with student-loan debt has to pay back around $33,000. While the cost of education has certainly gone up, our odds of landing a job that pays us a living wage has not. In fact, 43 percent of low-wage workers have at least some college education, a degree or even an advanced degree (as many underpaid adjunct faculty members could tell you about).

I don’t state these facts to be alarmist or ruin your day. I say this because I believe we deserve a lot more. It’s no coincidence that CEOs and university presidents are more highly paid than ever before while most of us are barely scraping by.

All over the country workers are building a movement to demand a living wage of $15 an hour and union rights. I’m joining the Fight for $15 because if we don’t get organized and fight for a change to this broken system, we are signing up for a future of poverty, odd hours and crushing debt. That’s not the life I want for myself or my peers.

On April 15, students, community members and workers from all over North Carolina, and the rest of the nation, are taking action to demand a future.